This and that...

A little update on all the goings on around here.
I bought a centerpiece for the future "new" herb garden that's going to take the place of the old herb garden.  We had a wonderful garden for many years in the same place, but its time to reorganize the area and put in some new herbs.  We had a small pond in this area at that time which has now been filled in.  Surprisingly several of the old herbs continue to come up, year after year.  I found a bit of the old Angelica plant, and the lamb's quarter seeds itself year after year. I love seeing their magenta pink centers, they are a pretty plant.
I have the idea to make this a spiral garden, an idea that I see repeated time after time on Pinterest, and I'm taken with how nice they look. I think I'll take it a step further and make it a spiral walking garden, something like a meditation walk.  This may be taking on a bit more then I can do, but I may be able to draw John in to the project (ha ha!) if I ask nicely.

Onions and garlic bed

Bean bed, do you see the sprouts coming up?

The vegetable garden is starting to sprout all over the place.  All of the onions and garlic are looking great, very healthy and green.  The tomatoes continue to grow and we have beans coming up.  The potato plants in the tubs are coming up and I will be adding some soil to them soon.  The plan is to keep adding soil until I reach the top of the tubs.  It's supposed to encourage potato growth below.  We'll see... the hail we received the other night didn't do much damage, just a hole or two in some of the pepper plants leaves.

Grumpy's Cedar Hand Soap

The cedar soap is smelling wonderful and I've enjoyed the scent when I come in the house - it's helping the whole downstairs to smell great!  I printed a trial sheet of the wrappers that Colleen created for this bar and I think it will be perfect.  Here's a picture of what it will look like, although these won't be the final wrapper.  I have to wait several more weeks before I can wrap these bars.  They are losing weight and hardening more each day, and I think they will be a lighter color by the time they are done.  The edges are lightening up considerably.

Today I'm staining the chicken coop.  We'll be putting some time in on this project this coming weekend, and I want it to be stained before John puts the wire up.  He worked on the coop some last weekend, and will continue to work on the inside box that the birds will roost in at night.  He put up the interior board on two sides, and we'll try to finish that part this weekend, I think.  An exterior siding will go over this before we're finished.